About Thanksgiving for Paso Robles

A celebration of thanks serving over 1,500 men, women, and children a traditional Thanksgiving meal at no cost. A true expression of community that brings diverse people together to share the day with others. All made possible through the generosity of caring individuals, students, organizations, churches and businesses.

Donate and Volunteer – Here's how you can help!

Thanksgiving for Paso Robles is 100 percent organized and executed by volunteers. We expect a large turn out this year again and your assistance is needed more than ever. There’s a lot to do! We have to raise the money to buy the food, pick it up, prepare it, and serve it. And, of course we need to prepare the space to do all of this. There’s pre-cleaning, decorating, setting tables, bussing, and more cleaning.

Volunteer Information

This is a huge endeavor, imagine opening a restaurant to serve 1,500 meals in one day; we have to know that staff is scheduled for each and every job.  Therefore, we insist that all volunteers pre-register; No Walk-in Volunteers, please. All volunteers must be 14 years of age or older to volunteer; to work in the kitchen you must be at least 16 years or older.

We do have opportunities for families with children.  Children can help decorate carryout boxes and families with children are encouraged to sign up to deliver meals.

There’s lots to do on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of Thanksgiving week. It takes about 200 people working nearly 1200 man-hours to put on Thanksgiving for Paso Robles each year.

On Monday the cooking of the turkeys takes place at the Culinary Arts Academy. On Tuesday the turkey and ham are sliced and pies are cooked at the CAA while another group of volunteers sterilize the kitchen and service ware at Centennial Park. On Wednesday we set-up and decorate the dining room and a lot more food prep takes place at the Park. Children can help color pictures to decorate the To Go boxes for meal delivery.  On Thursday, in addition to serving 400-500 sit down meals, nearly 100 meals are delivered to the homebound and take out dinners are assembled. Then, at the end of the day, everything must be cleaned, inventoried, put away and taken back to storage.

All volunteers, in an effort to ensure the health and safety of all volunteers and patrons, Thanksgiving for Paso Robles will be following current SLO County COVID protocols. Volunteers are highly encouraged to be fully vaccinated, however, it is not required. If you have any symptoms associated with COVID, have been diagnosed with COVID within the last 10 days, or have come into close contact with someone diagnosed with COVID within the last 10 days, do not participate in this event. Volunteers will be required to wear face coverings at all times while indoors and while serving food. We thank you in advance for following these safety guidelines.

FAQs

How can I contact the organizer with any questions?

Email Dave with your questions! Tg4Paso@gmail.com

Photography

Please, no photographs of guests!